Monocle and Eye (dark blue), from Jocular Ocular series (N221) issued by Kinney Bros. 1889

Editor: This is “Monocle and Eye (dark blue)” from the "Jocular Ocular series," made in 1889 by Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. It's currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The piece is a drawing, likely also a print. I am really intrigued by the singular, intense focus created by the framing monocle and its enlargement of the eye itself. What strikes you when you examine this peculiar piece? Curator: The emphasis is manifestly on the form, the geometry of vision. Note how the circular monocle both contains and highlights the organic shape of the eye. The texture and shading around the eye suggest age, weariness even. And observe how the limited palette intensifies the impact, focusing the viewer's attention on the gaze. What semiotic relationships do you see? Editor: It's like the monocle is both enhancing sight and restricting it, framing this one intense look while cutting everything else out. What about the lines themselves, particularly the shading? Are they regular? Curator: Precisely. The crisp, almost mechanical lines of the monocle contrast starkly with the more blurred, softer rendering of the skin. It draws attention to the materiality of the piece; it's construction, not a 'window' to the world but a constructed composition of symbolic vision. The contrast might also indicate the difference between objective, framed 'truth' and the messy, subjective experience of seeing. A clear reference to ocularcentrism within philosophy, no? Editor: I never considered the piece as a philosophical statement about ways of seeing and framing meaning, that's truly enlightening! I initially responded to its sort of peculiar character and visual punch. Curator: And that emotional response is validated, in turn, by the way the artifice of vision is itself on display.